Cigarette package with pull strip



Feb. 1, 1955 B. J. TAMARIN CIGARETTE PACKAGE WITH PULL STRIP 6Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 3, 1947 E W 5 E M D A Feb. 1, 1955 B. J.TAMARIN CIGARETTE PACKAGE WITH PULL STRIP 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 5,1947 ADHESIVE ADHESIVE ADHESIVE INVENTOR. fiwrzwwfiefwm 1955 B. J.TAMARIN 2,701,053

CIGARETTE PACKAGE WITH PULL STRIP Filed Feb. 3, 1947 6 Sheets-Sheezgifimmss B. J. TAMARIN CIGARETTE PACKAGE WITH PULL STRIP Feb. 1, 1955 6Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 3, 1947 INVENTOR.

BY m 5 H w ATTORNEY Feb. 1, 1955 B. J. TAMARIN CIGARETTE PACKAGE WITHPULL STRIP 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 5, 1947 IS ADHESIVE INVENTOR.Ber-M217]. 2am ri BY N %rrceg 6 Sheets-S eet 6 Pmy- 1955 B. J. TAMARINCIGARETTE PACKAGE WITH PULL STRIP Filed Fe 3' 1947 United States PatentCIGARETTE PACKAGE WITH PULL STRIP Bernard J. Tamarin, WhitemarshTownship, Montgomery County, Pa., assignor to Pull-Packaging, Inc., acorporation of Pennsylvania Application February 3, 1947, Serial No.726,023

8 Claims. (Cl. 206-412) My invention relates to portable packages and itis designed to render more readily accessible cigarettes and similarrod-shaped articles enclosed in packages which are sealed when vended,and preferably to provide for the automatic withdrawal or ejection ofone of the articles upon the opening of a closure of the package.

This application is, in part, a continuation of my ap plication SerialNo. 467,676 for Letters Patent No. 2,415,117 granted February 4, 1947.

My invention is generally embodied in a package comprising a group ofcigarettes, an inner wrapper enveloping said cigarettes and openable bya pull strip or pull, a jacket positioning said wrapper and having anopen end, and an outer moisture repellant and sealed wrapper envelopingsaid jacket and its open end to prevent inadvertent operation of thepull strip and prevent such strip from acting as a wick and extractingmoisture from or introducing excess moisture into the package. It isordinarily a somewhat slow and tedious task to extract a cigarette fromsuch a package even when the outer wrapper is notched to facilitatetearing or even when a rip strip is interposed between the jacket andouter wrapper for severing an end or tab of the latter.

in accordance with my invention, a tab formed by the severance of asection of the outer wrapper may be pulled to make a pull stripaccessible or to operate such pull strip for opening the inner wrapperand preferably for partly withdrawing a cigarette therefrom.

it is generally desirable that the pull strip be adhesively tacked tothe outer wrapper, to the inner wrapper and to a cigarette, but certainof the advantages of my invention may be attained by tacking the pullstrip with a cigarette or with either one of the wrappers, or with anytwo of these package constituents if the pull strip is looped around anappropriately cut and unfolded flap of the inner wrapper.

My invention is particularly applicable to a common form ofmoisture-resistant package wherein a group of cigarettes is arranged inseveral, and usually three, rows of unequal length and encircled by thebody of an inner wrapper having end extensions forming flaps hinged toand folded down into overlapping relation with one another to form tucksand folds partly overlying the tucks and providing therewith endclosures for the package. In such packages, the body and one end of theinner wrapper are usually permanently enveloped by a labeled jackethaving a sealed bottom and a sealed side seam. Such jacket leaves thewrapper flaps forming the top end closure exposed and unsealed exceptingfor a seal spanning the top end flaps of the wrapper and secured to thesides of the jacket. The seal ordinarily consists of an internal revenuestamp. The inner wrapper and jacket are enveloped in a sealed outerwrapper formed from a tough, transparent, moisture-repellant, celluloseacetate film. A tab may be easily severed from such outer wrapper bygrasping and pulling a section adjacent to a notch therein or by pullinga rip cord adjacent to a notched area.

In accordance with my invention, an end extension of the inner wrapperis slit topermit the unfolding of a flap of the end closure by a pullstrip looped around such flap and anchored. Preferably, the slits arecut in the overlying flaps forming folds of the top end closure andextend from the free edges thereof to the hinge lines along which thefolds are connected with the body of the inner wrapper. These slits arepreferably positioned adja- 2,701,053 Patented Feb. 1, 1955 cent to theinner edge of a tuck formed by an overlaid flap of the end closure. Theoverlaid flap or tuck is hinged along a line extending transversely tothe hinge lines of the overlying flaps or folds so that, when theoverlaid flap or tuck is lifted, it lifts sections of the overlyingflaps or folds from the remainder of such flaps, which are held inclosed position by the seal or stamp. Preferably, an edge of the sealoverlies the slits so as to yieldingly secure the separable fiapsections in folded down position.

The overlaid flap may be raised and unfolded to unfold the overlying,separated flap sections and form therewith a spout-like opening by aflexible pull strip having a section which lies between the bottoms ofthe overlying flap sections of folds and the top of an overlaid flap andsections or tuck, and is looped around the inner edge and across thebottom of the latter flap and anchored. Such anchorage may be to theoverlaid flap or to a cigarette beneath such flap, or to both, and ispreferably effected by a spot or spots of adhesive.

A section of the pull strip projecting from between the overlapped flapspreferably overlies or underlies the revenue stamp and the free or outerend of the pull strip is connected with a separable section of the outerwrapper which may be torn loose from the body of the outer wrapper by atug on the separable section or on a rip cord encircling the wrapper.

The tab thus detached from the outer wrapper may be readily grasped andpulled to apply stress to the pull strip to position it for seizurebetween a finger and thumb or to apply sufiicient stress to open theinner wrapper and withdraw a cigarette therefrom. In the latter case,stress is first applied from the tab, through the pull strip, to theoverlaid flap or tuck to lift and unfold such flap and, in the preferredform, also to unfold the flap sections or folds overlying it. Theturning of the overlaid flap, relatively to the direction of pull,imposes a splitting action on the adhesive spot connecting the overlaidflap and pull strip and frees the latter from the flap. Continuedpulling on the freed pull strip at an angle to the side of the packageimposes a lifting stress on the cigarette to which the pull strip isadhesively attached and moves the cigarette rectilineally. When,however, the zone of adhesive attachment of the pull strip to thecigarette rises to the top of the inner wrapper body, the continuedstress on the pull strip splits the spot of adhesive connecting thecigarette with the pull strip and frees the latter from the cigarette.The cigarette is thus left partially projecting from the spout formed bythe opened flaps, so that it can be readily grasped and withdrawn butwill not fall from the package.

It will, however, be understood that the pull strip may be attached tothe outer wrapper tab and to the overlaid flap only and not to thecigarette if it is desired to merely open the package withoutsimultaneously withdrawing a cigarette. Likewise, the pull strip may beattached to the cigarette only and merely looped around the flap,without adhesive attachment thereto, if the flaps are sufiicientlyyielding to be displaced by the stress imparted to the pull stripbetween the cigarette and the point of application of force at the pulltab. If the pull strip and inner wrapper tuck are composed of frictiontape, the pull strip need only be looped around the tuck and attached tothe outer wrapper.

In the drawings, Figs. 1 to 8, inclusive illustrate diagrammatically thesequential steps involved in the opening of and withdrawal of acigarette from a cigarette package embodying a preferred form of myinvention; Fig. 9 is an enlarged, fragmentary, broken perspective viewof the cigarette package shown in Figs. 1 to 8, before the openingthereof; Fig. 10 is an enlarged, fragmentary, broken, perspective viewof the cigarette package shown in Fig. 9, with the tab formed from theouter wrapper in position to be pulled to open the inner wrapper andwithdraw a cigarette; Fig. 11 is an enlarged. broken, perspective viewillustrating the splitting of the pull strip from a partly withdrawncigarette; Fig. 12 is a fragmentary, perspective view of the cigarettepackage with a cigarette partly withdrawn through a spout to permitgrasping it by the fingers; Fig. 13 is a plan view showing the slittingand scoring of the inner wrapper of the package shown in Figs. 1 to 12;Fig. 14 is a fragmentary, perspective view illustrating a modificationin which the pull strip underlies the sealing stamp before attachment tothe tab section of the outer wrapper; Fig. 15 is a top plan viewillustrating a modified form of outer Wrapper; Figs. 16 to 21illustrates diagrammatically a sequence of steps for opening, andwithdrawing a cigarette from, a package having the modified outerwrapper shown in Fig. 15; Fig. 22 is a plan view of a slit and scoredblank for forming a modified inner wrapper; and Fig. 23 illustrates thefolding of the blank of Fig. 22 to form a modified inner wrapper.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings, threerows a, b, c, of cigarettes (Fig. 6) are encircled by the body 1 (Figs.9, ll, 13) of an inner wrapper composed of sheet material, such aslaminated paper and foil. End extensions 2 are hinged to the bottom ofthe body 1 and are tucked and folded in the usual manner to provide abottom closure.

The inner wrapper body 1 and bottom flaps 2 are held folded about thegroup of cigarettes by a labeled jacket 3 having a usual sealed verticalseam and a sealed bottom closure formed from overlapped flaps in a usualmanner and forming no part of the present invention.

The side, front and back members of the inner wrapper body 1 have topend extensions 4, 5, 6 and 7, forming flaps hinged to the body 1 alongcreases 8, 9, 10 and 11, located adjacent to the top edge of the jacket3. The extensions 4 and 5 are folded over and lie against the tops ofthe cigarettes and form tucks which are overlaid by, and have theirlateral areas integrally connected with (Figs. 8, 11) folds formed bythe extensions 6 and 7, the fold formed by the extension 7 overlappingthe fold formed by flap 6.

A seal 12 such as, for instance, a revenue stamp, tautly spans the topclosure of the inner wrapper and has its ends adhesively fixed to thesides of the jacket 3.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 21, theextensions 6 and 7 contain slits 13 and 14 extending from their freeedges to, but not beyond, the creases 10 and 11. The slits 13 and 14 areso positioned and disposed relatively to one another that, when theextensions 6 and 7 are folded down, the slits extend from points ofintersection of the creases 10 and 11 with the edge 12 of the seal 12diagonally inward under the seal 12. The slits 13 and 14 cross oneanother beneath the seal 12, as indicated particularly in Figures 4, 9and 15, and divide the sections 6 and 7' from the main portions of theextensions 6 and 7 along lines adjacent to the inner edge 4' of the tuckmember 4 (Figs. 9 and 10).

In lieu of providing two slits 13 and 14 in the end extensions 6 and 7of the wrapper 1 and folding the body of the wrapper around thecigarettes so as to bring these slits opposite to one another, as shownin Figs. 1-21, the end extension 7 of the wrapper 1 may be provided witha single slit'14, as shown in Fig. 22, and the body of the wrapperwrapped around the cigarettes so as to position this slit 14' oppositeto the vertical joint between the edges 13' and 13 of the wrapper 1.This joint is left unsealed above the jacket 3 so that the top endextensions 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the wrapper may be tucked and folded andsections 6' and 7' thereof unfolded in the same manner as illustrated inFigs. 1-21.

The folded over sections 6' and 7' are lightly and yieldingly held inplace by having their flaring inner edges overlapped by the edge section12' of the seal 12 (Fig. 4), and such seal 12 securely holds down themain bodies of the folds formed by the extensions 6 and 7. The seal isgenerally tacked by adhesive to these main bodies of the folds formed bythe extensions 6 and 7, but is preferably not tacked by adhesive to thesections 6' and 7.

A pull strip 15 is anchored by a spot of adhesive 16 (Figs. 9 and 10) toan end cigarette a of the central, short row a, beneath the tuck 4. Thepull strip preferably consists of laminated narrow strips of flexible,transparent sheet material, such as cellulose acetate film, and may havean advertising slogan or directions printed in the inner surface of oneof the laminated strips.

By reason of the arrangement of the group of cigarettes in parallel rowscontaining unequal numbers of units, the cigarette a is spaced slightlyfrom the adjacent side of the wrapper body 1, thereby providing spacebetween the side of the wrapper 1 and the cigarette a for the movementof the strip 15 without substantial frictional engagement of the pullstrip 15 with the side of the wrapper. The cigarette a is movablerectilinearly in slideways formed on either side thereof by cigarettesof the rows b and c, as illustrated in Figs. 6, 8 and 11. The pull strip15 is tacked by the adhesive spot 16 to the cigarette a intermediate theends of the latter and preferably within a central portion of thecigarette not exceeding in length approximately three-fifths of thelength of the cigarette, so as to avoid complete ejection of thecigarette from the package.

The pull strip 15 extends from its point of attachment to the cigarette:1 (Figs. 9, 10) upwardly along the cigarette a, is then bent inwardlyover the tops of adjacent cigarettes of row a, is bent around the edge4, and extended reversely over the top of the tuck 4, to which the pullstrip 15 may be attached by an adhesive spot 17. Hence the pull strip isnormally held in place by being looped around the tuck 4 and partiallyoverlaid by the fold sections 6' and 7', and the latter are yieldinglysecured by the edge section of the seal 12.

As illustrated in Fig. 23, there may be substituted for the narrow tape15 a wide strip 15' connected by adhesive spots 16' with severalcigarettes and by an adhesive spot 17' with the tuck 4.

A portion of the pull strip 15 extends beyond the outer diagonal edgesof the fold sections 6' and 7 and overlies the stamp 12, as shown inFigs. 1-13 and 15-21, or may underlie such stamp 12 as shown in Fig. 14.

The package formed as above described is completely enveloped in anouter wrapper 18 having sealed bottom and side joints and preferablycomposed of a tough, transparent, moisture-resistant film of celluloseacetate.

In the embodiments of my invention shown in Figs. 1 to 14, the side,front and back members of the outer wrapper 18 have top end extensions19, 20, 21, 22, forming flaps hinged to the outer wrapper body alongcreases located adjacent to the creases 8, 9, 10, 11. The extensions 19and 20 are folded over and lie against the top of the inner wraper 1 andform tucks which are overlaid by, and have their lateral areasintegrally connected with, folds formed by the extensions 21, 22; thefold formed by the extension 22 overlapping the fold formed by theextension 21.

The flaps 19, 20, 21, 22 are sealed together and to the pull 15,preferably by fusion resulting from the application of heat to the topof the package. If desired, an adhesive may be substituted for fusion tocause the flaps 19--21 and pull 15 or 15' to adhere together.

A rip tape or ripper 23 encircles the jacket 3 adjacent to the topthereof and has an end 24 projecting through the sealed joint betweenthe vertical edges of the wrapper 18 between notches 25 therein. Whenthe end 24 of the ripper 23 is pulled, it severs the top of the body ofthe wrapper 18 and the flaps 19-21 from the remainder of the body of thewrapper 18 to form a pull tab connected with the pull 15, so that stressmay be readily applied to the pull 15 to unfold the tuck 4 and the foldsections 6' and 7' and withdraw the cigarette a, as indicated in thedrawings.

In the form of my invention illustrated in Figs. 15-21, the celluloseacetate film wrapper 18 has upper end extensions 19', 20', 21' and 22',which are tucked and folded similarly to the tucking and folding of theextensions 19, 20, 21 and 22, excepting that the tucks 19' and 20'extend substantially to the center of the top and the fold 22 projectsbeyond the edge of the package and contains a notch 25' midway of thewidth of its pro ecting section.

The flaps 19', 20', 21' and 22 are bonded together and the tuck 19' isbonded to the pull 15 which projects slightly under the tuck 20'.

When the fold 22 is ripped crosswise from the notch 25' and unfolded, itpulls up the tuck 19 connected therewith along the crease 19" and thismovement draws the pull 15 from beneath the tuck 20 and raises the pull15 to an upright position transverse to the package top. In thisposition, the end of the pull 15 may be readily grasped to apply stressto the pull either by seizing the upstanding end of the pull or byseizing the detached fragment 19', 22 of the outer wrapper if this hasadhered to the pull.

When stress is applied to the pull 15, directly by the fingers orthrough a pull tab formed from a top section of the wrapper 18, thestress on the body of the pull 15 1s, initially, substantially in theplane of the adhesive spot 17 (Fig. 4). Against such a stress, theadhesive spot has sufficient tenacity to cause the tuck 4 to bepartially lifted (Fig. 5) and turned about the crease 8 (Fig. 6). Thelifting of the inner end of the tuck 4 eflects the withdrawal of theflaring edges of the fold sections 6' and 7' (Fig. 5) from beneath theseal 12, and causes the unfolding of the sections 6' and 7' along theircreases 10 and 11. As the tuck 4 turns on its crease 8, the stress onthe pull exerts a splitting action on the adhesive spot 17 sufficient tobreak the pull 15 loose from the tuck 4 (Fig. 6). This permits theflexible pull 15 to slide relatively to the edge 4' of the tuck 4, withconsequent crumpling of the latter (Fig. 12) and the application ofstress from the pull strip rectilineally to the cigarette a; the stressat the adhesive spot 16 being substantially in the direction of theplane of the spot of adhesive (Fig. 6). The rectilineal stress causesthe cigarette a to rise through the spout formed by the unfolded members4, 6' and 7 until the adhesive spot 16 reaches the top of the wrapperbody 1. In this position of the cigarette, the pull on the strip 15angularly from the package (Fig. 11) exerts a splitting action on theadhesive spot 16 sufficient to separate the pull 15 from the cigarette aand leave the latter projected approximately halfway from the package(Fig. 12). The cigarette a may then be manually withdrawn. The spaceleft by such withdrawal (Fig. 8) sufiiciently loosens the group ofcigarettes to permit the withdrawal of the remainder of them one at atime.

If it is not desired to dispense the entire group of cigarettes one at atime, the members 4, 6' and 7 may be folded down to re-close the packageor may, if desired, be torn away along the creases 8, 10 and 11, toleave an open access aperture, as shown in Fig. 8.

Having described my invention, 1 claim:

1. A package comprising a group of cigarettes, an inner wrapperenveloping said cigarettes, a jacket positioning said wrapper and havingan open end, an outer moisture repellant and sealed wrapper envelopingsaid jacket and its open end, a flexible pull strip attached to one ofsaid cigarettes, to the inner wrapper and to the outer wrapper, and atear strip between the jacket and outer wrapper for severing from thelatter the portion thereof to which said pull strip is attached, saidinner wrapper having an end closure adjacent to the open end of saidjacket and including an inner wrapper extension folded along the openend of said jacket to form a hinged tuck around which said pull strip islooped between its connections with said cigarette and outer wrapper,said end closure also including inner wrapper extensions havingseparable sections folded over part of said tuck and unfoldabletherefrom without unfolding the remainder of said last named extensions.

2. A package comprising a group of cigarettes, an inner wrapperenveloping said cigarettes, a jacket positioning said wrapper, andhaving an open end, an outer moisture repellant and sealed wrapperenveloping said jacket and its open end, a flexible pull strip attachedto the inner wrapper and to the outer wrapper, and a tear strip betweenthe jacket and outer wrapper for severing from the latter the portionthereof to which said pull strip is attached, said inner wrapper havingan end closure adjacent to the open end of said jacket and including aninner wrapper extension folded along the open end of said jacket to forma hinged tuck around which said pull strip is looped, said end closurealso including inner wrapper extensions having separable sec tionsfolded over part of said tuck and unfoldable therefrom without unfoldingthe remainder of said last named extensions.

3. A package comprising a group of cigarettes, an inner wrapperenveloping said cigarettes, a jacket positioning said wrapper, andhaving an open end, an outer moisture repellant and sealed wrapperenveloping said jacket and its open end; a flexible pull strip attachedto one of said cigarettes and to the outer wrapper, and a tear stripbetween the jacket and outer wrapper for severing from the latter theportion thereof to which said pull strip is attached, said inner wrapperhaving an end closure adjacent to the open end of said jacket andincluding an inner wrapper extension folded along the open end of saidjacket to form a hinged tuck around which said pull strip is loopedbetween its connections with said cigarette and outer wrapper, said endclosure also including inner wrapper extensions having separablesections folded over part of said tuck and unfoldable therefrom withoutunfolding the remainder of said last named extensions.

4. A package comprising a group of cigarettes, an inner wrapperenveloping said cigarettes, a jacket positioning sa1d wrapper, andhaving an open end, an outer moisture repellant and sealed wrapperenveloping said acket and its open end; said inner wrapper having an endclosure ad acent to the open end of said jacket and including an innerwrapper extension folded along the open end of said jacket to form ahinged tuck around which sa1d pull strip is looped between itsconnections with sa1d cigarette and inner wrapper, a flexible pull str1pdetachably bonded to said tuck and to an intermediate portion of one ofsaid cigarettes and extending along a portion only of the length thereofsaid end closure also including inner wrapper extensions havingseparable sections folded over part of said tuck and unfoldabletherefrom without unfolding the remainder of said last named extensions.

5. A package comprising a group of cigarettes, an inner wrapperenveloping said cigarettes, a jacket positioning said wrapper and havingan open end, an outer moisture repellant and sealed wrapper, a flexiblepull strip attached to one of said cigarettes, to the inner wrapper andto the outer wrapper, said inner wrapper having an end closure adjacentto the open end of said acket and including an inner wrapper extensionfolded along the open end of said jacket to form a hinged tuck aroundwhich said pull strip is looped between its connections with saidcigarette and outer wrapper, said end closure also including innerwrapper extensions having separable sections folded over part of saidtuck and unfoldable therefrom without unfolding the remainder of sa1dlast named extensions, and said outer wrapper having an end closureoverlying the end closure of the inner wrapper and having a notch forfacilitating the severance of a section of said outer wrapper includingthe point of attachment of the pull strip to the outer wrapper andaffording access to such pull strip.

6. A package comprising a group of cigarettes, an inner wrapperenveloping said cigarettes, a jacket positioning said wrapper and havingan open end, an outer moisture repellant and sealed wrapper, a flexiblepull strip attached to the inner wrapper and to the outer wrapper, saidinner wrapper having an end closure adacent to the open end of saidjacket and including an inner wrapper extension folded along the openend of sa1d acket to form a hinged tuck around which said pull strip 18looped, said end closure also including inner wrapper extensions havingseparable sections folded over part of said tuck and unfoldabletherefrom without unfoldlng the remainder of said last named extensions,and sa1d outer wrapper having an end closure overlying the end closureof the inner wrapper and. having a notch for facilitating the severanceof a section of said outer wrapper including the point of attachment ofthe pull strlp to the outer Wrapper and affording access to such pullstrip. a

7. A package comprising a group of cigarettes, an inner wrapperenveloping said cigarettes, a jacket positioning said wrapper and havingan open end, an outer moisture repellant and sealed wrapper, a flexiblepull strip attached to one of said cigarettes, and to the outer wrapper,said inner wrapper having an. end closure adjacent to the open end ofsaid jacket and including an inner wrapper extension folded along theopen end of said jacket to form a hinged tuck around which said pullstrip is looped between its connections with said cigarette and outerwrapper, said end closure also ineluding inner wrapper extensions havingseparable sections folded over part of said tuck and unfoldabletherefrom without unfolding the remainder of said last named extensions,and said outer wrapper having an end closure overlying the end closureof the inner wrapper and having a notch for facilitating the severanceof a section of said outer wrapper including the point of attachment ofthe pull strip to the outer wrapper and affording access to such pullstrip.

8. A package comprising a group of cigarettes, an inner wrapperencircling said group and having an end closure comprising hingedextensions of said wrapper overlapped upon one another, amoisture-resistant casing enclosing said cigarettes and wrapper, and aflexible pull having an inner end tacked to one of said cigarettes,

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS BardDec. 9, 1919 Cadmus June 14, 1921 Rauber et a1. Oct. 11, 1932 Koch Jan.31, 1933 Stevenson Nov. 7, 1933 Wall Aug. 14, 1934 Luckett Dec. 31, 1935Tamarin Sept. 13, 1938 Austin et a1. Oct. 7, 1941 Stephano May 12, 1942Tamarin June 8, 1943 Crommey Feb. 29, 1944 West Apr. 25, 1944 SuskowitzJune 27, 1944 Tamarin Feb. 4, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany June 11, 1937

